


A Users' Guide to AO3 Tagging

by ErinPtah



Category: AO3 Tags, Internet & Social Media (Anthropomorphic)
Genre: How Do I Tag, Meta, Other, There's A Tag For That
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-11
Updated: 2013-06-21
Packaged: 2017-12-14 17:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/839223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErinPtah/pseuds/ErinPtah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the AO3, you're allowed to tag your works in any way you want.</p><p>But if what you want is the tags that are most standard, most searchable, and/or most wrangler-friendly, here's a short guide on how to do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The text that follows has been changed, because somebody reported the original for being not meta enough.
> 
> You can still find [the original simple, fact-based guide](http://erinptah.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/a-users-guide-to-ao3-tagging/) offsite.
> 
> Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in the following ficlets do not necessarily reflect those of the wranglers of any fandoms mentioned.

_**Frankentag** _

"Please don't do this," begged the small -- only one-use! -- character tag in the wrangler's arms. "I can't help the way I look! My creator made me this way! Can't you make me look nicer, instead of throwing me out?"

"I'm sorry," said the wrangler, giving poor _Seras Victoria. Alucard (Hellsing)_ a sympathetic pat. "If you were one character with a small issue like a typo, we could syn you to the correctly-spelled character tag...but you're two characters smashed together, and we have no way to break you apart. Only your creator can do that."

"Then call my creator!" pleaded the tag. "Surely they don't want to see me like this either! It must have been a mistake! They want their work findable, I know it!"

Sadly the wrangler shook her head. "We're not allowed to tell them."

At last she reached her destination. The tiny, helpless tag cried out as it made the long fall into the Unwrangleable Pit.

It landed in a dark, disorganized place, full of tagkind's most pitiful and grotesque. The miscategorized. The gibberish. The omg so drunk u guys.

 _Seras Victoria. Alucard (Hellsing)_ shivered as a strange tag approached it. This one was also one-use, but even though it was small it was long and winding, slithering through the refuse like a snake.

"Hello, stranger," purred _I have so many headcanons and feelings in general for modern!Les Mis_. "What's your story?"

 

* * *

 

_**Ambiguous** _

"Wait, you don't know what fandom I'm from?" asked _"Beast"_ (quotation marks included). "It's right there on my work! Just look -- I'm the Beast from _X/1999_!"

"Oh, humans can check on that easily," the wrangler assured it, leading it through the Character Tags lounge. "But the tag system can't. And the next time someone uses you, it could just as easily refer to the one from the X-Men, or the one from _Angel_. So we can't sort you by fandom."

At last they arrived in front of a huge, shambling metatag: _Beast_ , surrounded by a few of its leaner sub tags, including the swarthy _Hank McCoy_ and the skinnier _Beast (Kuroshitsuji)_. And then there was _Beast (X/1999)_...looking downright translucent.

"What's wrong with it?" asked _"Beast"_ anxiously, kneeling in front of the sickly little tag where it was sleeping.

"Nobody's used it yet," said the wrangler sadly. "Everyone who's written that character -- all the users like your author -- have used fandom-ambiguous tags. The poor fandom-specific one doesn't have a feed."

 _"Beast"_ was overcome with pity. Along with the base taggish desire to be searchable, of course. "I could be in its feed!" it said loyally. "If you told my user how this works, I'm sure they'd change me!"

The wrangler sighed. "This is all explained in the FAQ with the wrangling guidelines."

That was enough to rouse the ponderous No-Fandom metatag. "Wrangling guidelines confusing," grunted _Beast_. "Not addressed to users."

"Oh, you're awake!" exclaimed the wrangler. " _Beast_ , say hello to your new syn! It'll be showing up in your feed from now on."

"Hello," rumbled _Beast_. And then, before _"Beast"_ could answer, _Beast_ picked it up...and swallowed it whole. _  
_

 

* * *

 

_**Order** _

"Hey, beautiful," said the incredibly long relationship tag, giving the wrangler its most winning grin. "Look at me! I'm fabulous, I'm sexy, I use full character names in alphabetical order. Canonize me, darling, ASAP -- I'm sure there are users falling all over themselves to get in on my hot OT6 action."

"I'm sure they are," agreed the wrangler, businesslike as ever. "If you'll just give me a moment to check you over..."

He took a quick look at the names in _Bruce Banner/Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov/Steve Rogers/Thor/Tony Stark_ , then shook his head. "Nope. Sorry. They're out of order."

"What?" exclaimed the tag. "That can't be true!"

"The names in a relationship tag go in alphabetical order by _family_ name," the wrangler explained. "It goes by first name for one-name characters -- like the Marvel Thor -- but not for anybody else."

The tag's face fell. "My user was so careful," it said sadly.

"And we appreciate the effort," said the wrangler. "But we still have to wrangle you to the actual standards. Come along, and I'll introduce you to _Bruce Banner/Clint Barton/Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark/Thor_."

 

* * *

 

_**Ambiguous** _

Small and mid-sized fandoms in the Fandom Tag Lounge always had to step carefully, especially if they were in the same category as a megafandom. The biggest, most bloated metatags, though well-meaning, tended to push them out of the way.

"Urgh," grunted _The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom_ , as a wrangler presented it with _the avengers- ambiguous fandom_ to swallow. "No more, please! I can't keep eating, I'll pop! Why would a user tag for this, anyway? Don't they know which Avengers they're writing about in their own work?"

"They're probably getting the two of us mixed up," chimed in _The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types_ , the largest of its sub tags. "We do look a lot alike. I'm only about a thousand words smaller than you."

"You don't look anything alike!" wailed a much smaller sub tag _Avengers (TV)_ , colloquially "the Avengers that has Emma Peel." "One of you is my metatag, and the other one isn't!"

"I know, dear," soothed _The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom_. Being the metatag for a megafandom wasn't easy sometimes. You had to make sure your other sub tags didn't get hurt and upset by getting only a fraction of the attention its popular sibling did. Only a few other metatags really sympathized with the feeling, particularly _Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms_. "Everyone in the family knows you, and we all love you, at any size."

"Speaking of size," interrupted the wrangler, impatient. "You can do the touchy-feely stuff _after_ you've added this to your feed. I don't have all day, here! Someone just tagged with a bunch of pairing smushnames in one of my fandoms, and I need to get on that, already."


	2. Appendix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Story endnotes. Last updated January 2017.
> 
> If you find an example here that's broken or outdated, please let me know and I'll find a new one.
> 
> Disclaimer: A founding principle of the AO3 is that we don't control users' tags. (With the exception of misused Archive warnings.) Nothing here is a requirement — it's all presented on a "you can do this if you feel like it” basis.

## General

  * **Use the[Tag Search](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/search)** to look up tags you’re curious about. You can search the entire tag database or narrow it down by category, and you can limit it to only canonicals if you’re looking for existing standards to use. 

(Note: “Canonical” just means “a tag that has been standardized by wranglers, and can be filtered on,” not “a tag for something that happens in canon.”)

  * **Tag landing pages** show things like what category a tag is in, and what tags are related to it. You get direct links to these pages from the [Tag Search](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/search). You can also get to them by clicking the link at the top of a works page. Example: [Works tagged France (Country)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/France%20\(Country\)/works); [landing page for France (Country)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/France%20\(Country\)).



 

* * *

## Fandom

  * Use the **full name** of the fandom.
  * Don’t use a metatag when you’re already using one of its subtags. (You can see metatag/subtag relationships on a tag’s landing page.) Example: if your fic is tagged “[Elementary (TV)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Elementary%20%28TV%29)“, you don’t need to tag it “[Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Sherlock%20Holmes%20*a*%20Related%20Fandoms)“. It will already show up in that listing anyway.
  * If your fandom has the same name as another one, make sure you use a specific tag. Example: if you’re writing fic about [The Avengers (Marvel Movies)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/The%20Avengers%20\(Marvel%20Movies\)), use that tag! That way your fic won't get lumped in with [The Avengers (TV)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/The%20Avengers%20%28TV%29), an unrelated British TV series.
  * For **crossovers** , enter the names of both fandoms, _as separate tags._ Something like "[Angel and Leverage crossover](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Angel%20and%20Leverage%20crossover)" — all one tag — is an unwrangleable Frankentag, and your fic won't show up in the works for _either_ fandom. _  
_



 

* * *

## Characters

  * **Full names** , in the order of the original canon language (so "[George Washington](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/George%20Washington)" but "[Tsukino Usagi](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Tsukino%20Usagi)").
  * If someone has a **generic name** that is shared by characters in other fandoms, the tag needs disambiguation to make it specific to your fandom. For example, use “[Beast (Kuroshitsuji)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Beast%20%28Kuroshitsuji%29)” or “[The Beast (AtS)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/The%20Beast%20%28AtS%29)” or “[Beast (Beauty and the Beast)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Beast%20%28Beauty%20and%20the%20Beast%29)“, and avoid the too-generic tag “[Beast](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Beast)“.
  * If someone has **multiple names/identities** , you can include a nickname in quotes (“[James “Bucky” Barnes](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/James%20%22Bucky%22%20Barnes)“) or separate the two identities by a pipe ("[Red Riding Hood | Ruby](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Red%20Riding%20Hood%20%7C%20Ruby)"). Different fandoms have different ways of handling this. Check the other characters in your fandom to see what the standard is.



 

* * *

## Relationships

  * Full names, in **alphabetical order by family name** (so, “[ **Tsukino** Usagi/George **Washington**](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Tsukino%20Usagi*s*George%20Washington)”).
  * Same thing for poly groupings. Examples: “[Akemi Homura/Kaname Madoka/Miki Sayaka/Sakura Kyouko/Tomoe Mami](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Akemi%20Homura*s*Kaname%20Madoka*s*Miki%20Sayaka*s*Sakura%20Kyouko*s*Tomoe%20Mami)“, “[Bruce Banner/Clint Barton/Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark/Thor](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Bruce%20Banner*s*Clint%20Barton*s*Steve%20Rogers*s*Natasha%20Romanov*s*Tony%20Stark*s*Thor)“.
  * For **generic/one-name characters** :
  * If they're paired with specific character(s) from the same fandom, no need to disambiguate: "[Loki/Tony Stark](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Loki*s*Tony%20Stark)"
  * If all characters are generic, but from the same fandom, you only need to put the fandom once at the end: "[Loki/Thor (Marvel)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Loki*s*Thor%20\(Marvel\))“
  * If it's a crossover, include the fandom for all the generic characters: "[Beorn (Tolkien)/Loki (Marvel)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Beorn%20\(Tolkien\)*s*Loki%20\(Marvel\))"



 

* * *

## Freeforms/Additional Tags

This is the open-ended category!

Just try to make sure the tags refer to things other people might want to search for.

Some possibilities: a work’s **genre** (“[Fluff](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Fluff)“, “[Hurt/Comfort](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Hurt*s*Comfort)“), **tropes** (“[Case Fic](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Case%20Fic)“, “[Amnesia](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Amnesia)“), **kinks** (“[Breathplay](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Breathplay)“, “[Bondage](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Bondage)“), **extra information** about characters (“[Drunk Tony Stark](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Drunk%20Tony%20Stark)“, “[Toph Being Awesome](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Toph%20Being%20Awesome)“) or pairings (“[Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Past%20Peggy%20Carter*s*Steve%20Rogers)“), the kind of **AU you’re writing** (“[Alternate Universe – Historical](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Alternate%20Universe%20-%20Historical)“, “[Alternate Universe – Circus](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Alternate%20Universe%20-%20Circus)“), the story’s **location** (“[France (Country)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/France%20%28Country%29)“, “[Aslan’s Country](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Aslan%27s%20Country)“).

As always, **don’t use ambiguous names** when referring to a character. “[Drunk Tony Stark](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Drunk%20Tony%20Stark)”, not “Drunk Tony”.

Creating new canonical freeform tags is currently disabled for technical reasons, so to make your fic most findable, **choose an existing canonical**. You can find these via the [tag search](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/search).

If you can’t find a tag for the exact term you had in mind, try looking for for a workable synonym. For example, “anxiety attacks” is not a canonical tag, but if you search for “[anxiety](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query%5Bname%5D=anxiety&query%5Btype%5D=Freeform&query%5Bcanonical%5D=true)” and “[attacks](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query%5Bname%5D=attacks&query%5Btype%5D=Freeform&query%5Bcanonical%5D=true)” separately, you can find both “[Panic Attacks](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Panic%20Attacks)” and “[Anxiety Disorder](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Anxiety%20Disorder)“.

 

* * *

## How To Avoid Creating “Unwrangleable” Tags

  * **Don’t** use long, meandering, idiosyncratic tags (“Tumblr-style tags”). If you want to say “Dylan is very bitter and very messed up but we all love him anyways,” or “I have so many headcanons and feelings in general for modern!Les Mis,” or “someone I know really wanted me to make this,” put it in the summary or author’s notes.
  * **Don’t** put your tags in the wrong categories. Wranglers can’t re-categorize “[Blaine Anderson – Relationship](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Blaine%20Anderson%20-%20Relationship)” or  “[Brittany Pierce – Freeform](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Brittany%20Pierce%20-%20Freeform)” or “[Jasper Hale/Alice Cullen – Character](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Jasper%20Hale*s*Alice%20Cullen%20-%20Character)“.
  * **One topic per freeform tag!** Combinations like “Angst but also fluff but also humor” should be “Angst”, “Fluff”, “Humor”. On the flip side, a tag like “[or something](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/or%20something)” is only half a topic, and is meaningless on its own.
  * **One character per character tag. One relationship per relationship tag**. Otherwise you create Frankentags, such as “[SasukexOC NarutoxHinata SakuraxSasuke](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/SasukexOC%20NarutoxHinata%20SakuraxSasuke)” or “[Seras Victoria. Alucard (Hellsing)](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Seras%20Victoria*d*%20Alucard%20%28Hellsing%29)“. Wranglers have no way to break those up.



**  
Wranglers are not allowed to tell users** when they’ve created a Frankentag, or put a character in the Relationship field, or made [a very obvious typo](http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Harrry%20Potter), or anything else that might cause problems for the system. It’s officially against the principle of “we do not tell users what to tag.” You have to do your own double-checking.

 

* * *

 

And that’s that! Do all of the above, and you will have elegant, searchable, AO3-standardized tags — and cut down on wrangler workload while you’re at it.

* * *

 

## Wait, I Still Have Questions!

For more tag help, try the following:

  * **Look at the[tag wrangler guidelines](http://archiveofourown.org/archive_faqs/31),** available in [the AO3 FAQs](https://erinptah.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/archive_faqs). These cover most of the special cases you’re likely to run into. (What to do with a canonical AU version of a character? How about a commonly-used fanon character? How do you format a relationship with an OC? Etcetera.)
  * **[Contact Support and Feedback](http://archiveofourown.org/support)** with questions, general tagging comments, and any errors you’ve spotted (e.g., character tags in your fandom that should be filterable, but aren’t yet). Support will work out an answer, with help from the appropriate people in the Tag Wrangling team.
  * **Ask somewhere unofficial** , like [filter-me-ao3 on Tumblr](http://filter-me-ao3.tumblr.com/) or an AO3 thread at [fail_fandomanon](http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/). These places aren't endorsed or guaranteed by the AO3, but the answers can be fast and helpful.
  * **Leave a comment here**. If I don't know the answer, I'll track down someone who does.



**Author's Note:**

> There are some resources for more tag help at the end of [the tagging guide](http://erinptah.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/a-users-guide-to-ao3-tagging/), including "go ahead and ask me." Since the AO3 doesn't have a private-messaging system, feel free to leave questions in the comments here. If I don't know the answer, I can always find someone who does.
> 
> Happy tagging!


End file.
